Yet again former refs saying Leeds should be fuming as Gelhardt was bodychecked and thats a nailed on penalty. He also said VAR wasnt used and it should have been. I think we have dipped out on penalties this year through poor refs and VAR not used properly. Am I right thinking Dan James should have had 2, Harrison 1, Rodrigo at least 1….. any more. Yet our defenders have been picked up plenty. Firpo, Ayling, Koch, Llorente, Cooper, Struijk and Dallas all penalised inside the box? Seems we cant play Liverpool without the ref giving them a couple of pens!
think we’ll go back for Aaronson as first choice Gallagher alternative … klich replacement. But will now maybe need another central or defensive midfielder, possibly 2 if kp goes. that said I’m frankly not sure how the dm/cm/am midfielder concept fits in a 4222 - where in principle there are only 2 midfielders.
My gripe is the combined fee for two players in the same position, sign one or the other and put the money to better use or sign neither and buy better, to sign both James and Harrison was an astronomical mistake
I feel Marsch won’t be given the final say like Bielsa was given, it will be interesting to see if we go back in for old targets that Bielsa turned down yet Orta had a different view
Risty… Harrison is left footed James right footed. When (if) raph goes… our only 2 first team wingers. And Is it so bad having 3 wingers competing for 2 spots. Given our injury record? I agree at the time of the James signing it felt like we had bigger priorities but no beef with having both personally.
Completely agree, felt going into the season the wing and centre back were the only 2 positions we had decent strength in depth.
No manager in professional football since it was seriously commercialised has exercised control to the extent bielsa has. I doubt Jesse will have final say on the car park spaces though I suspect he probably wouldn’t be that bothered. We handed over the keys, wallet , power of attorney, dropped our pants and touched our toes for bielsa because that’s what he required. And we were right to do so as it gave him what he personally required to flourish. no other manager in football would want or make those demands. But final say on players? That’s where the DOF v manager spats always happen. Marsch should have veto… but DOF’s generally outlast manager’s so should be recruiting to a plan. Guess we’ll see.
What's your thinking on Chelsea's loan out to Norwich, Billy Gilmour? He absolutely transforms Scotland when he plays in much the same way that Nathan Patterson does. Both kids too.
You sure about that, Rich? I wasn't in a position to argue against your statement, nor did I want to particularly, until coincidentally I was looking at the BBC chart for goalscorers / assists. In terms of goal involvement (goals + assists), the top 5 are: 1. Raphina - 12 2. Harrison - 10 3. James - 7 4. Rodrigo - 6 5. Bamford - 5 Seems a pretty good return for the 2 you mention. If you look further at the table, the last 2 columns are very interesting too, with Harrison the leading light, which I must confess surprised me.
Dallas, Poveda, Costa and at the time Alioski could have signed a new contract, at the time of signing James I’m sure we were not already planning for “When Raphinha leaves” I get your point but we have depth on the wings but a quality of depth that’s ended up scrapping in a relegation dog fight. It’s left James playing 90% of the season out of position. Although right footed he really is a left winger
Gilmour has done reasonably well as this season was all about him having a year away from the mothership and learning to stand on his own two feet. The time to judge him properly will be next season but given the current situation at Chelsea it's hard to predict what their strategy will be regarding the plethora of young talent they have out on loan. A loan with an option to buy would make him a very good signing for anyone.
but none of the players you named are good enough rich. And James has played centre forward because we didn’t have one. The fact that for the most part our wingers weren’t injured when everyone else was, is just an act of fate. As Leeds down south rightly said earlier… we had two positions winger and centre back where we actually had cover. I agree there were bigger priorities but for me the issue was not pursuing them as well… rather than criticising us actually having some cover. of course it’s not so simple… if we have a fixed amount of cash and we spunk it all on James leaving nothing for the other positions we need? Then that’s a legit complaint. We don’t know if it was the whole budget or even if it was, whether we just couldn’t get the players we wanted elsewhere and spent the budget on deadline day on James. So, i agree it wasn’t the main priority, IF it denied us the opportunity to make signings in more pressing positions then again I question it… but I don’t have a problem with it as a standalone signing. Re the left v right footer. The side doesn’t matter, a lot of wingers favour the side they cut in from these days - it’s the same for Harrison/raph - but we have a huge disparity of left footers in the forward line, so it added some balance.
jack has exceed his xg in front of goal and whilst his assists aren’t great this year he actually has a healthy xa (expected assists) which basically means he sets up chances others miss. the thing that stands out in these stats are how much we play through Raphinha… more shots more passes more everything down his side. Understandable but maybe it’s harder for Harrison to be prolific playing second fiddle. Or maybe it should be easier for him if everyone double teams raph . too complicated for me this football analysis gig! apparently spurs want to sign him in the summer… back up for jack Clarke maybe?
